Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 3.djvu/445

Rh and not with the help of cattle. While this is being done, strangers (Kondh or others) may not look on the crop, or speak to them, lest their evil eye should be cast on them. If a stranger is seen approaching near the threshing-floor, the Kondhs keep him off by signalling to him with their hands, without speaking. The serrated sickle is not used, because it produces a sound like that of cattle grazing, which would be unpropitious. If cattle were used in threshing the crop, it is believed that the earth god would feel insulted by the dung and urine of the animals. They believe that they can transform themselves into tigers or snakes, half the soul leaving the body and becoming changed into one of these animals, either to kill an enemy, or satisfy hunger by having a good feed on cattle in the jungle. During this period, they are believed to feel dull and listless, and disinclined for work, and, if a tiger is killed in the forest, they will die synchronously. Mr. Fawcett informs me that the Kondhs believe that the soul wanders during sleep. On one occasion, a dispute arose owing to a man discovering that another Kondh, whose spirit used to wander about in the guise of a tiger, ate up his spirit, and he became ill. When cholera breaks out in a village, all males and females smear their bodies from head to foot with pig's fat liquefied by heat, and continue to do so until a few days after the disappearance of the dread disease. During this time, they do not bathe, lest the smell of the fat should be washed away." The Kondhs are said * to prevent the approach of the goddess of small-pox by barricading the paths with